


Equally Foolish

by scheherazade



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-20
Updated: 2007-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-06 18:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/738663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scheherazade/pseuds/scheherazade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When you offered me that job, you told me that you were an <i>explorer</i>."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Equally Foolish

**.: three :.**

  
To Kaga Tetsuo:

I am writing to say good-bye; by the time you read this letter, I will have already departed. I am leaving with a merchant ship, the Equity, in three days' time. I have finally had enough of map-making, as you predicted once before; it feels like time I returned home and found a better way to spend the rest of my life.

I wish you all the luck that you may find in the years to come, and I remain,

Your friend,  
 _Tsutsui Kimihiro_

**:: four ::**

  
The tavern was full tonight. The serving girls hurried between the kitchen and the common room, bearing trays laden with food and drink. The crush of human bodies heated the room better than any fire, and Kaneko's hair was damp with sweat when she returned to the kitchen, her senses overtaken by the smell of food and beer and unwashed men.

"Kaneko."

She turned her head sharply, searching for the source of the voice. It wasn't one that she recognized at once; it didn't belong to the cook, or the tavern master, or anyone else who worked here. But as her eyes fixed on a figure by the kitchen door, she stifled a small gasp of recognition.

" _Kaga_?" Kaneko set down her tray with a _thunk_. And stared. "My god... What are you doing here? The last we heard of you, you'd gone west and disappeared off the maps."

Kaga fanned himself lazily. Not that it made much difference, considering how hot the kitchen was. "I was in a neighboring city and decided to come by to visit," he drawled. "It was a long trip by land."

By land? Well, obviously. It wasn't as though he could sail a recognized pirate ship right into port! But there was still the question of why he had even come back in the first place.

Kaga snapped his fan shut. "Got a minute? I want a word with you."

Kaneko raised an eyebrow at him. He looked back at her, his gaze steady. Serious.

She turned away and loaded up her tray again (bread, vegetable stew, and meat for those who could pay for it). To Kaga, she said, "Go and have something to eat. I'll talk to you in a bit."

When she turned around again, he had already made his way back to the common room. Kaneko followed, wondering if she should be surprised or irritated, thinking of how there had been no word of him for years. She had half-assumed that he must be dead by now.

Only he wasn't, now was he?

She made another round of the common room before finally coming to the corner table where Kaga had seated himself.

"What have you been up to?" she asked without preamble. "Not a word from you for all this time, and now you suddenly show up out of thin air! You're not in some kind of trouble, are you?"

Kaga drank his beer and laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not. And what did you want me to do? Send you postcards from the places I'd been to?" Seeing her scowl, he laughed even harder. "Kaneko, I've been halfway around the world and back. The least you could do is give me a proper welcome, you know."

Kaneko glanced over her shoulder, checking to make sure she wasn't missed yet. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Just wanted to chat for a bit," Kaga said nonchalantly, and Kaneko narrowed her eyes. "Catch up on things. The usual. What's been happening lately?"

"I don't know. What interests you?"

Kaga contemplated his drink, then looked up and met her eyes. "How's trade been? Merchants around here still dishonest as always?"

Trade? What the hell...

"Well, there's been rumor that Kitajima wants to invest in the silk trade," she said, buying some time to think. Her mind leapt to the letter she had received from Tsutsui, weeks ago. He had written to say that he was coming back, and that he planned on making the trip without causing any fuss that could be avoided. She had thought Tsutsui meant that he would be keeping his return journey a secret―especially from Kaga. But from the way Kaga was acting, she could only assume that he had known.

Kaneko chewed on her lip for a moment. She might as well tell him. "And the _Equity_ was due in port last week, but hasn't shown up yet."

"The _Equity_ ," Kaga echoed, and Kaneko knew that she had hit on the right vein. Damn.

"She had a hull full of treasure, I heard, and old Akota wasn't making any secret of it. It was stupid. Tempting fate―and pirates." She brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes. Her voice grew softer. "The _Candens Aterrima_ was sighted around here pretty recently. Most people aren't optimistic about ever seeing the _Equity_ again."

"But that's rumor. No real news or anything?"

"No. Not yet."

Kaga tipped his mug back, downing the rest of his beer in two gulps. Kaneko watched him take a long breath as he set it down again. "More beer?" she offered.

He declined. "I'll just have some of that stew."

"All right. But pay first."

He gave her a crooked grin, reaching into his belt purse for the coins. "Suspicious as always."

"It's called common sense," she said. "Which is more than most people have these days."

Kaga's smile faded. "Yeah. I know."

Kaneko had nothing to say to that, so she merely took the money and went back to the kitchen. It was life, she thought; you lived with what you got. It couldn't be helped that some had worse luck than others.

Still... Tsutsui...

She shook her head, telling herself to just stop it already. A bleeding heart didn't help matters any. Sentiments never did.

 

**: two :**

  
"Why are you still making maps for the Company?"

Tsutsui carefully rolled up the draft he had been working on by candlelight. "Because it's my job."

"Yeah, and it's boring as hell," Kaga said, uncurling from the armchair and walking over to the desk where Tsutsui was seated. "Don't you ever get tired of it?"

"What else can I do?" He suppressed a sigh. They had been over this before. "This job pays well, at least."

Kaga wound his arms around Tsutsui's shoulders, lowering his head until it rested against Tsutsui's neck. Tsutsui smelled of soap and clean linen.

"You could always come with me," Kaga said after a moment.

"Thanks, but no," Tsutsui said. His words were clipped. Sharp. "You know how I feel about pirates."

"Then what about me?" Kaga's fingers traced the creases of Tsutsui's shirt. "You're being hypocritical. Besides, you've worked on my ship before."

"When you offered me that job, you told me that you were an _explorer_." Tsutsui's voice had turned to ice, and his words lashed out with the bitterness of something not unlike betrayal.

Kaga abruptly let go of him. "What's the difference between pirates and your merchant lords, anyway?" He began to pace, wearing at the already worn carpet of Tsutsui's small study. "Everyone's a thief. Only difference is that pirates take from the rich, and the merchants and nobles steal from the poor! At least I don't lie and try to disguise it with pretty words and legalities―"

Tsutsui stood up so suddenly that he nearly knocked the chair over. "That still doesn't mean it's right!"

Silence descended between them. Tsutsui looked away.

"You should go," he said in a lower voice. "It's dangerous for you to be here. Someone might see you."

 

**.:: five ::.**

  
Dawn brought the _Lou-Ann_ , who arrived in port with the news that they had found a shipwreck three days ago, farther up the coast. Right along the route the _Equity_ should have been following.

As far as anyone could tell, it had been the work of pirates.

Kaneko brought up a breakfast tray of bread and fruit for Kaga, who had stayed at the tavern for the night. She half-wished that she didn't have to be the one to break the news to him, but it was better to find out from an old friend than from the gossips on the street.

At least, she hoped that would be the case.

Kaga was still in bed when she knocked, but he answered the door quickly enough. She set the tray on the bedside table and said, "They found the _Equity_."

Kaga―who had just picked up an apple from the tray―froze for the briefest of moments. He turned the fruit over in his hand and leaned against the wall, the very picture of a nonchalant morning. "And?"

"There wasn't much of her left."

"Any survivors?"

Kaneko shook her head. "It was most likely the _Candens_ , and they don't take prisoners."

Kaga returned the apple to the tray and walked to the other side of the room. Kaneko watched him fill the washbasin with water, then splash a generous amount of it onto his face. Much of the water ended up soaking his shirt and hair as well.

"Akota was asking for it," he said after a moment, his hair dripping, his back still turned to her. "I remember how he always was: reluctant to spend money for armed protection. Not a goddamn drop of caution or common sense." Kaga slammed his fist against the wall. "That _fool_."

Kaneko couldn't tell if he was referring to Akota or Tsutsui.

She sat down on the edge of the unmade bed. "We all saw it coming."

"Yeah." Kaga ran a hand through his hair, causing water droplets to cascade to the wooden floor with a _pitter-patter_ like rain. "Didn't really expect it to be any different."

"Doesn't make it hurt any less though, does it?" she said softly, looking at the back of Kaga's head.

Kaga didn't reply, only grabbed the towel from the peg on the wall, drying his face and hair with more force than was strictly necessary.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Get back to my ship. Assure my crew that I'm not dead."

"And carry on just like before." It wasn't really a question.

"Something like that," said Kaga. He walked back to the bedside table, picked up the same apple from the tray, but set it down again just as before.

Kaneko watched him walk to the window by the foot of the bed, his expression a carefully constructed blank. She stood up, smoothing her skirt automatically by force of habit. "I need to get back to work."

"Why don't you get out of here, Kaneko?"

She stopped, halfway to the door, and turned to look back at him. He was looking out the window, still not facing her. "Where would I go?" she asked.

"You could come join my crew."

"Thanks, but I'd rather not."

"Why? Because of Mitani?"

Kaneko told herself not to stiffen at the mention of his name, because honestly, she hadn't seen that brat since he had run off with Kaga. What good would a reunion do, after all this time? Old grievances like that were better off when left to rot.

"I'd just rather not live on the wrong side of the law and all," she replied.

"I bet he misses you, too," Kaga said, and Kaneko was certain that the sadness she heard layered beneath his voice was not because of her refusal, but because of Tsutsui.

"Well, Mitani knows where to find me," she said, carefully ignoring the choked-up feeling in her throat. "I'll wait for him here."

Without waiting for Kaga to say anything more, Kaneko let herself out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

 

**. one .**

  
The young man had the looks of an aristocrat and the clothes of a scholar down on hard times. His glasses magnified already large eyes, and Kaga thought that if not for the heavy, square frames, they might be a beautiful pair of eyes indeed. He sat down beside the stranger uninvited, earning a wary―but also curious―glance.

The bartender got him a mug of beer without needing to be prompted, and Kaga grinned. Turning to the man beside him, he asked, "What brings you here, stranger?"

"Looking for a job," came the tired reply. "I don't suppose you could offer me one?"

Kaga sipped his drink. "Depends," he said, licking his lips. "What do you do?"

"I'm a cartographer. I make maps."

Kaga snorted. "I know what a cartographer is."

"Then you might also know that my skills aren't exactly in high demand around here."

"No kidding." Kaga laughed. "These shores have been sailed for centuries; they've all been mapped to death." He leaned closer. "But you know what they're saying: the direction to the future is west. Why not try your luck?"

"In the islands?" The stranger shook his head. "The only ones going there are exiles and pirates. I'm not either."

"It won't be that way for long," Kaga said thoughtfully. "Damned merchants are going to start venturing out sooner or later, to look for their route to the Orient or whatever. They're going to have a hell of a time navigating unknown waters and fighting off pirates at the same time.

"That's all very interesting, but it still doesn't help me find a job."

"Haven't you been listening to what I said?"

"Yes, but as I have pointed out, the ships going to the islands right now aren't in the habit of hiring poor map makers."

"Well, you obviously haven't heard of my ship." Kaga's grin widened at the surprised look on the other's face. "Sign up with my crew. I'd love to have a cartographer on board for this next journey. We're sailing for the Star Point Isles in two weeks. What do you say?"

There was a slight pause. "Who are you? An explorer?"

"Something like that. In any case, I'm not a bad guy." Kaga took a gulp of beer, set down the mug, and held out his hand. "Kaga Tetsuo. Captain of the _Black Carp_."

"Tsutsui Kimihiro," said the stranger, taking the offered hand with a hesitant smile. "It's nice to meet you."  



End file.
